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Christliche Zentrumspartei Hulsterreichs
The Christliche Zentrumspartei Hulsterreichs ''(Christian Centre Party of Hulstria), commonly known as the Zentrumspartei, Zentrum or the CZP, is an up-and-coming political party in Greater Hulstria, hoping to contest the next elections, which formed out of the former Evangelische Volkspartei, Sozial-Katholische Union and Christlich-Historische Bund, three Christian parties only locally represented. It is a Christian Democratic Party, and its members are fanatical supporters of the Constitutional Monarchy, and are moderate on most issues. Since 2856, it is a founding member of the Christlich-Demokratisches Verbund. History of the Zentrumspartei The Predecessor Parties: EVP, SKU and CHB Up until 2854, the more Centrist Christian Democrats (as opposed to those who favoured the CLA), were organised along religious lines in three religious parties: the Evangelische Volkspartei, the Sozial-Katholische Union and the Christlich-Historische Bund. Due to their splintered nature, in their centuries of existence those parties could never make a breakthrough on the national stage and barely broke through in the Crownland Diets. On a local level, though, their organisation was strong and that kept the Parties alive. Nevertheless, each of them wished to enter the national stage one day. In the late 40s of the 29th Century, the three parties realised that none of them would achieve this goal on their own. Viktor Braunbach, leader of the EVP, approached CHB Leader Junker von Straussenbach, for the creation of a Christliche Volkspartei of the Protestant denomination. At the same time, SKU Leader Olivier von Hohenhimmle called for "a greater Christian unity" and made plans for the a Christlich-Soziale Union. Neither succeeded: the urgency never developed. The three parties, on the initiative of Braunbach, came together in a body to coordinate their actions. Yet a discussion on the place of the Bible in the alliance's politics prevented any progress, and the process slumbered. By 2850, Braunbach had ceded the Leadership of the EVP to Egon Ritterlich, his protege, who was a fusion-enthusiast. Ritterlich began lobbying with Von Hohenhimmle to form a new party, if they had to without the CHB. In 1952, the CHB came around and with the process stronghanded by Ritterlich, it succeeded. In early 2853, the first Conference of the Christliche Zentrumspartei adopted a declaration of intent and elected Ritterlich as Leader, and from that time, the Party has stood together in all local elections. The fusion process was completed in January 2854. Attempts at a breakthrough: Egon Ritterlich's Early Leadership In January 2854, leading up to the 2854 General Elections for the Imperial Diet and Crownland Diets, Ritterlich led his party to high expectations despite the pessimism of many experts. Indeed, the pessimist accounts proved true, for the CZP failed to get into the Reichstag. Some wished to replace Ritterlich already, but the Parteirat voted 30 to 6 to reconfirm him. Although they had missed out this time, many experts were predicting that Zentrum would enter the Imperial Diet by the next election. The most prominent feature of the early days of Ritterlich's Leadership were his discussions with the Duke of Anderinch about greater cooperation between the Christian-Democratic Parties. The Leader strongly aligned himself with the Christliche Liberalen Allianz and supported the Duke's re-election as Governor-General. Surprisingly, the latter and many of his Leadership Team welcomed the Party to the political stage and seemed amenable to an Alliance. Meeting in the Restaurant In den Geschossenen Hirsch, the two gentlemen laid the foundations of cooperation between the two parties. Party Leadership Executive Committee (Vorstandskommission) *'Party Leader (Parteichef): Viktor Lochmann *'''Party Deputy Leader '(Vice-Parteichef): 'Anna-Laurentina Braunbach *'Party President (Parteipräsident): 'Laurens Junker *'Secretary-General (Generalsekretar): 'Johanna von Klingen *'Party Deputy President (Vice-Parteipräsident): 'Theodore Marken